Dreamweaver 3 for Dummies [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Janine Warner (Author), Paul Vachier (Author) "As shown in Figure 1-15, the Insert menu offers access to a number of features unique to Web design..." (more)
Key Phrases: browse your drive, image edit mode, frameset file, Design Notes, Internet Explorer, Cascading Style Sheets (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
With Dreamweaver 3 and Dreamweaver 3 for Dummies, there's no excuse for not updating your Web site. Dreamweaver 3 provides a good foundation in site design, and it outshines competing applications by offering both a WYSIWYG tool (What You See Is What You Get) and a powerful HTML text editor. While the book explores many aspects of the application, it also surveys the basics of HTML, giving readers a broader knowledge of how Web pages work.

For users who created their sites using another Web authoring application, the author dedicates a chapter to common conversion problems in Macromedia's software. Users starting from scratch will find an extensive chapter on site planning, such as deciding on functionality goals and targeting your audience.

The book begins with a review of the work environment. Then it's on to creating a site and working with the site management tools. Efficiently working with Dreamweaver requires a thorough understanding of features like Templates, the Library, Tracing Image, and History palette. This Dummies guide does a good job of showing not only how to use these, but why they're important for optimizing the creation and maintenance of your site.

This book also features a section on creating images with Fireworks 3 and using them within Dreamweaver. Dynamic HTML, layers, and behaviors are covered, including more advanced uses of these features in timeline animations. Adding multimedia like Shockwave or Flash movies, or including Java or ActiveX, may exceed early aspirations for readers of this book, yet the guide clearly explains the many options offered for implementing these enhancements.

The book concludes by analyzing sites created with Dreamweaver and offers some design and timesaving tips (including a list of online resources). The CD-ROM holds trial versions of the software plus numerous plug-ins such as HTML Rename!, a filename conversion program useful for cross-platform work. You'll also find extra behaviors and templates, sample images and Flash files, to supplement the learning process and a glossary of Web and Dreamweaver lingo useful for beginners. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered: Basic instruction on using Dreamweaver 3, including creating a site, pages, formatting text, placing images, making links, working with tables, forms, frames, DHTML, and plug-ins; creating graphics in Fireworks 3 and integrating them in Dreamweaver. CD-ROM includes 30-day trial versions of Dreamweaver 3 and Fireworks 3, HTML Rename!, demo versions of companion software like BBEdit Lite 4.6 and the latest browsers, extra Dreamweaver behaviors and templates and sample images and Flash animations.

Product Description
Whether you're a professional Web developer or you're brand new to the Web, Dreamweaver 3 for Dummies will have you designing sophisticated Web sites in no time. This easy-to-use guide is designed to make creating a Web site more intuitive and efficient. Filled with practical tips and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, this book will be your secret weapon in the race to design beautiful and functional high-end Web sites. When it comes to the most advanced HTML features, such as Dynamic HTML and Cascading Style Sheets; this book really shines making it fun and easy to add animations, rollover effects, and multimedia to bring your site to life. Includes a CD-ROM packed with Dreamweaver and Fireworks tryouts, valuable templates, scripts, objects, artwork, and useful utilities.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Hungry Minds (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764506692
• ISBN-13: 978-0764506697
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #912,961 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book but not for beginners., August 31, 2000

By	James M. Lowry (De Land, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This book is an excellent reference. However it's format differs considerably from some "For Dummies" books. I cannot claim to have read all the "For Dummies" books, but most that I have read pretty much take a hands on approach, tell you what to do, indicate what the screen is supposed to look like after you do it, and go on from there explaining the function of all screens and the various choices they present. And then usually walking the reader through most of the choices. This doesn't happen in Dreamweaver 3. It does discuss the functions of the program in a clear and accurate manner. But there is no thread of an ongoing project that, upon completing the book, would be finished and ready to be read by a browser. The book is strong on technical aspects of the program but contains virtually no practical applications of these technical functions. The closest it comes is at the beginning of the book where the auther instructs the reader... "Write something". But that's the last specific directive given to the reader. It's an excellent book for those who have a good solid understanding of basic Web site development. But as a step by step hands on training text for the beginner, it could lead to more frustration than learning.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun reading and good info...., April 13, 2000

By	bushbuck "aging guitar player" (Texas) - See all my reviews

I went through the Dreamweaver tutorial and still didn't "get it." Then I read DW3 for Dummies - aha, so that's what the tool is about! Dreamweaver is a pro-level tool, and the documentation that comes with it addresses that audience. This book cuts one level lower to help us novices get up to speed. Note however, that this is not the "end all" book; it simply gets you started...

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful, April 3, 2000

By	Sarah Erwin (Michigan) - See all my reviews

My first exposure to Dreamweaver 3 was through the CD that comes with this book. (The CD also come with a trial version of Fireworks 3 and several other programs). I am very impressed with Dreamweaver and the explanations this book gives of its features. I'm about halfway through and I understand and can apply every bit so far.

This is one of the first books out on Dreamweaver, so I was a bit wary of buying it. It's not for someone who knows absolutely nothing about web design (of course Dreamweaver isn't probably for someone who doesn't have at least *some* idea of what makes web pages work).

If you want to learn Dreamweaver 3 and have had some exposure to web design, this book will teach you what you need to know.